“This was my first motorcycle, I wanted something that would not cost hundreds of pounds to repair if it got dropped or crashed, because after all it is likely to happen when your not experienced. This bike was exactly what i wanted, great learner machine.
I have had one minor crash where the back wheel locked up in the rain (I got it and the back wheel adjusted to prevent it happening again).
And one more sever crash from running over an animal on the road which was unavoidable and not the bikes fault.
I loved learning on this bike and it is excellent value for money and near impossible to break. After each of these crash I got back up and so did the bike, both with minor scrapes, bruises and a bit stiff in the morning.
It was important to me not to feel intimidated by my first bike. It is quite quiet, imagine a hair dry on steroids then half that and you get the picture.
I would suggest changing the tires from the nylon composites to rubber ones as they are more grip in the UK weather which is essential to stop you sliding around on those rainy days.”
“It's a good bike although I wish it weren't so large. The wing mirrors seem to stick out a long way by comparison with other bikes on the road. Gears can be a bit sticky too.”
“The YBR is my first bike which i have had for a while now. I asked lot's of people about what i should get before i did my CRB. I bought my bike off a person who could not ride it no more. Im so glad i did. It's a reliable and comfortable bike which if ridden with care the fuel will last for a long time. I would recommend this bike 100% but like all things if you give it abit of TLC then it will last for a very long time. my bike is 06 plate and from what i have seen it looks allot better than some of the 12 plates. I hope this helps.”
“As my very first motorcycle it's a pretty good buy. The best part about it is everything is cheap. Parts, insurance, petrol, oils, etc. But it's cheap and cheerful not in anyways cheap and tacky it's a good solid bike. As for anyone first ever riding a motorcycle the weight will always be a slight shock when they first balance the bike, but it really is technique over strength. It isn't the coolest looking 125cc out there but it also isn't the worst either. It's what I would call a neat and tidy design. It's has a nice quiet sounding engine and it usually purrs along without being too noticeable. It's not a racing bike, it's a good commuter. You want to go around town just getting from A to B it's more than adequate. It handles corners nicely, it's snappy when it needs to pull away, and it just about handles the dual carriageways going to about 62 mph when 'full-throttling' it in 5th gear, although when changing up gears getting speed out of it you really need to get your revs near red just before shifting. But what do you expect from such a small engine?
My only gripes with the bike are really small gripes. One being Neutral sometimes isn't neutral... Sometimes I don't quite shift into neutral and slip into 1st or second. But the Neutral light on the display still lights up. And suddenly you find after letting go the clutch you have a very nasty stall... Also I find when I'm shifting down gears from say for example 4th, and I want to get to first, as I hold in the clutch it shifts down gear just fine up until second gear going to first. Instead of going second to first it sometimes goes to neutral. (Yes I know it's suppost to) I know you have to give a bigger shift to get back into first from second, to skip neutral but even after slamming my foot down on the leaver it just sticks in neutral. So I have to let go the clutch and then pull it back in and then it lets me into first. But shouldn't it go from second straight to first when downshifting? This can be annoying because sometimes getting it back into gear leaves me on a green traffic light trying to pull away with a que of traffic behind me. This doesn't happen all the time but it can be often. However once you get used to it it's not that hard to get back into first. It's just a technique you develop while learning to drive.
My other gripe is the actual shift leaver itself. It's not the easiest of sifters to use when wearing leather biker boots. To get your foot underneath the leaver can be a challenge as you have such little room between the footrest and the shift leaver. It does become natural once the boots wear but it's not great either. Wearing normal shoes or trainers it's no problem. But if your a newbie like me with brand new biker boots it's kind of off-putting. You can adjust the leaver however the engine casing is in the way so you can't actually rise it very much. Now after a month of riding with my boots it's ok. But it's not great when your first learning to ride.
This may have improved on later versions of the YBR as I have the 2006 model which is to be fair quite old. However it's a solid bike and for it to be running like new in 2014 goes to show what a bullet proof little machine it is.
As for me as a complete newbie to the road and motorcycles, it's a great first bike and it was worth the money as I couldn't afford something along the lines like a CBR 125 or a YZF-R125!
Overall for me it's a good 8.5 out of 10 :-).”
“I have had many bikes over the last 50 years up to 6500cc and this is just about the best I have ever owned. What stands out to me is that on 2 trips from Norwich to Leicester the bike was comfortable and I achieved 134 mpg, whilst cruising at 50 to 55 mph. thoroughly pleased.”
“When I passed my cbt I just wanted a bike but didn't know what I was looking for really. After ruling out off road bikes- too tall- and sporty looking bikes- to noisy and second hand ones are all damaged- I was left with commuter or easy rider style bikes. I looked into both but prefered the commuter style, which led me to the ybr. It's my first bike so I've nothing to compare to, but it'll do 55 on the flat, corners well and doesn't cost much to fuel up, it's comfortable with a good seating position and the only times I've broken down were due to poor maintenance on my behalf and a loose fuel pipe. All in all I'd recommend this bike to anyone learning to ride.”
